CLIENT PlantarTech | ROLE Product Design & Development Lead | TIMELINE 2021 | DESIGN CONTEXT Human Industrial
Plantar Fasciitis Splint | PlantarTech is a low-profile soft-goods splint designed to help relieve plantar fasciitis pain while preserving mobility. I led the product’s design and development from research, concept generation, and functional testing through patent support, manufacturing documentation, packaging design, and production support.
Design Opportunity | Traditional night splints immobilize much of the foot and ankle, making them bulky, uncomfortable, and difficult to walk in. The opportunity was to develop a simpler, low-profile solution that could maintain the required stretch without restricting the entire foot.
Function & Fit Exploration | Sketches and physical mockups explored how a minimal soft-goods structure could lift the big toe and engage the plantar fascia through the Windlass Effect. Building and testing concepts directly on the foot helped evaluate strap routing, tension, stability, and freedom of movement.
Material Benchmarking & Fit Refinement | Successive prototypes evaluated stretch fabrics, foam, hook-and-loop components, grip treatments, binding methods, and toe and heel constructions. Fit testing refined the routing and adjustability while reducing concentrated pressure and keeping the product stable during movement.
Design Refinement | The selected design simplified the product into a continuous figure-eight strap with a formed toe cradle. Its routing distributed tension between the toe and heel, providing an adjustable stretch while maintaining a low profile and preserving ankle mobility.
How It Works | The splint lifts the big toe to engage the Windlass Effect and maintain a controlled stretch through the plantar fascia. Its adjustable figure-eight routing anchors around the heel, fits either foot, and preserves mobility without immobilizing the ankle.
PAIN RELIEF
MOBILITY
ADJUSTABLE
Packaging Development | I developed the packaging from structural prototypes through the final dieline, graphic layout, instructional content, and production artwork. The selected design could stand on a shelf or hang from a retail display, with instructions integrated into a perforated tear-away panel to reduce additional printed material. I worked directly with the packaging manufacturer to prepare the final design for production.
Production Development | I worked with material and component suppliers to specify the foam, stretch fabrics, hook-and-loop materials, grip treatment, binding, and branding details. I sourced a soft-goods manufacturer and developed the drawings and production tech packs used to communicate dimensions, materials, construction methods, tolerances, and quality requirements.
